Cops used cloak-and-dagger tactics to bust brethren in ticket-fixing scandal

By ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and KEVIN DEUTSCH

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Oct 30, 2011 | 12:05 AM

The cloak-and-dagger tactics used by cops to bust 16 of their brethren made the ticket-fixing probe one of the most risky corruption cases in recent NYPD history.

It was also among the most-sophisticated.

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The Internal Affairs Bureau seemed more like the FBI at times during the nearly three-year probe, expanding their use of wiretaps and sharpening their tools for urban intelligence-gathering, sources said.

Cops wore wires for dangerous undercover work and posed as shady drug suppliers. They even ripped off an armed weed dealer as part of an elaborate ruse.

IAB "committed a tremendous amount of resources to the investigation," said one law enforcement source with knowledge of the probe. "They worked it day and night. You have to breathe a case like this."

The massive investigation took its toll on the bureau - especially after one of its members, Sgt. Jennara Everleth-Cobb, tipped off her pals in the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.

"After that, it turned into a very difficult, very sensitive [investigation\]," the source said. "When the targets know you're there, how do you proceed?"

The lead investigator in the case, Detective Randy Katakofsky, put his reputation and safety on the line to see it through, sources said. He logged 1,049 work overtime hours last fiscal year. Facing fierce criticism and threats from colleagues, Katakofsky plunged deeper into the insidious schemes of 16 allegedly dirty cops.

"Whatever people think of the case, it changed the way things are done," another source said.